Republic of Mining

The risks of plundering the periodic table – by Staff (Mining.com – January 22, 2023)

January 25, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

A recent paper published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution estimates that humans are heading toward a situation where 80% of the resources we use are from non-biological sources.

Written by researchers at the Ecological and Forestry Applications Research Centre, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the article notes that in 1900, approximately 80% of the resources humans used came from biomass (wood, plants, food, etc.). That figure had fallen to 32% by 2005 and is expected to stand at approximately 22% in 2050.

Electric Vehicles Are Not the Answer to Saving the Environment, May Be Quite the Opposite – by (Auto Evolution – January 23, 2023)

January 25, 2023

https://www.autoevolution.com/

It is a classic shoot-yourself-in-foot scenario in the U.S. with lithium, the soft metal critical to the manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles. Current environmental laws and regulations are preventing two private companies from mining two large lithium deposits in Nevada.

The U.S. Government is not striking a NIMBY pose as it has done recently with oil production, but rather finds itself in quite a pickle on how to move forward to facilitate its battery content mandates outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Justin Trudeau’s spending plans will be threatened by higher interest rates and looming recession, report says – by Tonda MacCharles (Toronto Star – January 23, 2023)

January 25, 2023

https://www.thestar.com/

Justin Trudeau’s cabinet’s agenda over the next three days is to take a hard look at the fiscal and economic picture facing Canada.

HAMILTON—The federal Liberal government’s budget plan to grow the economy and get the public books in order is “unlikely” to work, given its evolving ambitious political promises, higher global interest rates, and the “high likelihood of a more severe recession in 2023,” says a new report.

The report, written by former Bank of Canada governor and deputy finance minister David Dodge, and Robert Asselin, former finance policy adviser to the Liberal government now with the Business Council of Canada, comes as the Trudeau cabinet meets to strategize about the coming months in Parliament.

SPC and Vale consolidate Sudbury nickel/copper deposits – by Mariaan Webb (Mining Weekly – January 24, 2023)

January 25, 2023

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Canadian junior SPC Nickel and diversified miner Vale’s Canada subsidiary have announced that they will consolidate their adjacent and contiguous West Graham and Crean Hill 3 nickel and copper deposits, in the Sudbury mining camp of Ontario.

The agreement grants SPC Nickel the right to acquire a 100% interest in the surface and mineral rights of the Crean Hill 3 property. In consideration, certain rights and royalties will be extended to Vale across the combined project.

B.C. had record spending on exploration in 2022 – by Nelson Bennett (Business In Vancouver – January 23, 2023)

January 25, 2023

https://biv.com/

British Columbia had record spending on mineral exploration in 2022 and there are eight new mines or mine expansions in the queue, Premier David Eby said Monday at the opening of the Association of Mineral Exploration (AME) Roundup conference in Vancouver.

Eby said there was $740 million spent in mineral exploration in B.C. in 2022 – a record – and mineral production in B.C. is also expected to be a record: $18.2 billion.

Kuya Silver out to revive historic Cobalt mining camp – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 24, 2023)

January 25, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Toronto company discovering new silver veins near old mine workings

The historic Cobalt silver mining camp could see a revival from Kuya Silver. The Toronto company has tapped into a “significant” silver vein within shouting distance of a group of former mines that date back to the silver rush days from the turn of the last century.

At a site on its Silver Kings Project, dubbed North Drummond, the company said it has drilled into a new mineralized zone left untouched and largely unexplored by the mining companies. It will be the focus of Kuya’s 2023 exploration program.

Doug Ford pledges to turn Ontario into ‘auto manufacturing powerhouse’ driven by minerals from Ring of Fire – by Kris Ketonen (CBC News Thunder Bay – January 23, 2023)

January 24, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Premier discusses Ontario’s critical mineral strategy, plans for EV production during ROMA speech

Companies that want to extract Ontario’s critical minerals to make EV batteries will also need to open factories in the province, Premier Doug Ford said Monday.

Speaking at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association’s (ROMA) annual general meeting, Ford said northern Ontario boasts deposits of 34 of the “most critical minerals the whole world wants.” “Everyone’s here wanting to get the minerals,” Ford said. “I have one condition.

The Drift: Sudbury distributor shining a light on underground mining – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – January 20, 2023)

January 23, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

X-Glo North America’s LED rope lighting enhancing safety across the North

In nearly two decades in mining supply sales, Don Bertrand has visited plenty of underground operations where the lighting was OK at best.

But a little over 10 years ago, he hit upon a product that illuminates underground spaces better than anything else he’s encountered, and now he’s spreading the gospel to mines across the continent. X-Glo North America sells its proprietary LED rope lighting to clients in the mining, tunnelling, and oil and gas sectors.

How Is Your Phone Powered? Problematically. – by Matthieu Aikins (New York Times – January 23, 2023)

January 23, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/

Siddharth Kara’s “Cobalt Red” takes a deep dive into the horrors of mining the valuable mineral — and the many who benefit from others’ suffering.

Cobalt, a mineral essential to the batteries of smart devices and electric vehicles — and therefore to the future — is haunted by a past of slavery and colonialism. The phone in your hand contains several grams of this element; some of it, as Siddharth Kara shows in “Cobalt Red,” was likely mined by people hacking away in toxic pits for subsistence wages.

Used as a source of blue pigment since antiquity, cobalt has joined blood diamonds and forced-labor shrimp as the latest bête noire of critics of globalization. Nearly half of the world’s reserves are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a conflict-stricken country that has long been the site of a geopolitical scramble for strategic resources.

More foreign investment in our natural resources could ease financial burden on Canadians – by Mark Le Dain (Calgary Herald – January 22, 2023)

January 23, 2023

https://calgaryherald.com/

The Canadian loonie has been sitting near multi-year lows, making life more expensive for Canadians. In the past, our country had a natural mechanism that cushioned the inflation impact of a falling loonie.

As the value of the currency dropped, global operators would invest in and develop the country’s abundant natural resources. This would then lead to increased demand for Canadian currency and increased jobs and exports during critical periods when the low loonie suggested weakness in other sectors.

Yamana Gold founder says ‘chatter’ points to more industry M&A – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News -January 23, 2023)

January 23, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Yamana Gold Inc.’s $4.8-billion takeover will be the catalyst for “much needed” consolidation in the gold industry this year, says founder Peter Marrone.

“I’m a bit jaded, because I’ve been talking about the need for consolidation for 19 years,” the executive chairman said in a Jan. 20 interview at Yamana’s Toronto headquarters. “But I do think we’ll finally begin to see some of it happening soon. I hear lots of chatter out there about other pending transactions.”

OPINION: Electric vehicles versus oil and gas – the new fault line among U.S. states – by Gus Carlson (Globe and Mail – January 21, 2023)

January 23, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Gus Carlson is a U.S.-based columnist for The Globe and Mail.

The push by a group of state lawmakers in Wyoming last week to introduce a bill banning the sale of electric vehicles by 2035 elicited as many sarcastic snickers as concerned frowns.

Even the backers of the bill admitted the effort was mostly symbolic, a supportive nod to the state’s oil and gas industry – a huge job-creation machine and revenue generator. And even if the proposed bill becomes law, its six Republican authors concede it will be difficult to enforce and unlikely to make an impact.

The climate movement needs to engage with Big Mining as never before – by Daniel Litvin (London School of Economics – January 13, 2023)

January 23, 2023

https://www.lse.ac.uk/

Environmental activists need to ramp up engagement and collaboration with the mining industry if the energy transition is to be secured, however uncomfortable it makes them, argues Daniel Litvin. Informed by his work advising resource companies on sustainability and geopolitical issues, he highlights five points to encourage a constructive conversation.

In the minds of some activists, the sins of Big Mining almost equate to those of Big Oil: environmental destruction, overconsumption of natural resources, neglect of human rights, excessive corporate power. Mining executives, in turn, are incensed at what they see as their demonisation. They view themselves as producing materials essential for modern society – and responsibly, to boot.

EV ‘Mania’ May Be ‘Over,’ Production Estimates and Executive Enthusiasm Wane as Sustainability Questioned – by Naveen Athrappully (The Epoch Times – January 22, 2023)

January 23, 2023

https://www.theepochtimes.com/

Electric vehicle (EV) “mania” might be at an end, or, at a minimum, easing down, according to research, as concerns about supply chains, lithium sourcing, inflation, and more affect production capacities while customer demand decelerates globally, as evidenced by industry leader Tesla cutting prices in order to increase sales.

In Europe, EV car manufacturers are slowing production due to uncertainties around lithium supply for batteries as well as electric vehicles proving to be expensive for the middle class, according to a Jan. 18 Institute for Energy Research (IER) post.

Abandoned mines among most expensive territorial contaminated sites – by Emily Blake (Canadian Press/Toronto Star – January 22, 2023)

January 23, 2023

https://www.thestar.com/

Environmental advocates say costly cleanups of former non-renewable resource projects in the North show the need for better planning.

YELLOWKNIFE – Environmental advocates say costly cleanups of former non-renewable resource projects in the North show the need for better planning.

Three of Canada’s top five most expensive federal contaminated sites are abandoned mines in the North: Giant Mine in the Northwest Territories at an estimated $4.38 billion and the Faro and United Keno Hill mines in Yukon at $1 billion and $125 million, respectively.